Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino will have decisions to make this fall that he’s never had to make before.

With the NCAA’s new redshirt rule, Petrino can use players in four games and still keep them eligible to redshirt this season if they haven’t already. Coaches across the country have expressed support for that rule, saying it’s good for the players because redshirt candidates can get game experience they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Petrino has said that his strategy under the new rule will be to evaluate players’ ability to help the team early in the season. With that in mind, he can afford to be less hesitant to put freshmen in games, without having to worrying about burning redshirts.

For instance, special teams ace Lamarques Thomas played in two games late in 2016, so he lost that year of eligibility. If the new rule were in effect back then, he’d be a redshirt sophomore instead of a junior this year.

Petrino said he’ll play some freshmen in the first few games of the season to see how they do and then decide whether to continue playing them or preserve their redshirt. Then, he’ll leave open the possibility of playing some of the other freshmen toward the end of the season with no penalty.

Louisville opened preseason practice with its newcomers Friday morning. Here’s a look at how the freshmen could help the Cardinals this season:

University of Louisville quarterback Jordan Travis runs onto the field as he chats with a team staffer at the start of the team's morning practice.
August 03, 2018
David R. Lutman/Special to the Courier Journal

The first group

As in any year, Louisville will rely on a few true freshmen to contribute. The difference this year is that the coaches can play those guys in four early games and still choose to keep their redshirt if the players don’t seem ready.

Last season, Louisville played nine true freshmen in at least seven games each, used three true freshmen in two or three games each and redshirted the other 10.

If the coaches could do last season over again with this rule, they could have limited some of the group of nine freshmen to four games. At the same time, with a freshman such as Cole Bentley, who earned his first experience against Kent State and Murray State and ended up really helping the team down the stretch, the coaches can play the full season with some freshmen.

Safety Trenell Troutman and cornerback Chandler Jones were two highly touted recruits at practice Friday morning. They’ll likely be among those who play early — they may even be on the two-deep chart.

Freshmen running backs Hassan Hall and Javian Hawkins also received substantial work early in practice Friday. With injury questions at running back with Dae Williams and Colin Wilson, Hall and Hawkins figure to stay in the rotation.

The second group

These are the guys Louisville would prefer to redshirt. Last year, they included quarterback Malik Cunningham, wide receiver Justin Marshall and cornerback Anthony Johnson. This year, there are players like quarterback Jordan Travis, offensive lineman Adonis Boone and a handful of others.

Cunningham, Marshall and Johnson all redshirted and, because of that, were never options on Saturdays, even when Louisville was blowing out Syracuse in November, 56-10.

Travis, for example, begins as the team’s third-string quarterback and could benefit from an extra year of eligibility. If circumstances call for it, though, he could get some developmental reps toward the end of the season with no penalty.

There’s also the bowl game, which more and more players decide to skip to preserve their bodies for the NFL. With Jaire Alexander and James Hearns out last season, Louisville may have benefited from being able to use reinforcements in the bowl game.

The upshot is that the rule allows teams to use more players in more games with no penalty, which could help the Cards in a variety of ways.